Interviews
Post-academy Interview
Q: Hi Ainslie, congratulations on being signed to Mercury Records!
How does it feel to be a star?
How does it feel to be a star? Errm...I don't know if I deserve that title yet, I just a minor celebrity who has yet to prove himself
Q: Now that Fame Academy is over, you must be really excited to finally have your much anticipated single released?
Mmm, I'm really looking forward to 'Keep My Secret' being released, it will be really exciting, as long as there s a group of people who love it that's fine by me if it doesn t get to number 1 I won t be too devastated if it makes the top 5 I'll be happy with that.
Q: What inspired you to write Keep Me a Secret?
It was during the Fame Academy auditions and I was travelling home on the tube one night, The tube was almost empty and a girl came and sat in front off me and it was the strangest thing, we got talking and there was suddenly a real connection between us. She was a teacher actually and I often wonder if she remembers it, we sat speaking for about 1 minutes, and when I was getting of the tube, we decided to not swap numbers and not ever see each other again, and take it as a perfect meeting and not ruin it with a relationship and kind of deny ourselves what we desired and leave it as it was.
Q: You are an excellent songwriter and a very talented artist all round. Who would be your pick as the ultimate artist of all time and why?
Thank you. That s a tough one ultimate artist of all time? Do you know, this is going to be quite a controversial one, because of the way things are shaping up at the moment I think the ultimate artist of all time has to be Michael Jackson, I think the man is a genius, a born star. For someone to be a star you can t teach it or make it some academy. You are either born that way or not. If you watch that guy sing ABC at 8 yrs old it's breathtaking and everything he has done after that has been awesome he s and awesome artist.
Q: Getting back to your time in FA, were you happy with how you came across on the show was it the real Ainslie?
Do you know, I haven t watched Fame Academy, I watched about 10 minutes of it and it freaked me out it was awful, I just looked like a wee nervous jittery strange thing? I don t know if I m happy with it or not because you don t really get an impression of what your like until you watch yourself. To be able to watch yourself back just going about you day, and doing what you do and having conversations with people is a really strange thing to see, so I ve tried to avoid watching it back.
Q: Do you regret anything (from FA)?
I don t really regret anything, well maybe one night I got really drunk, and I put on a pair of lacey white pants and I was dancing around the room singing Get out of bed, come up and sing (laughs) You know those mornings when you wake up and your memory comes back and you think Oh no I know I did that and then also realising that your gran and you mum and all your friends and people you haven t even met could have been watching it! I regret that.
Q: You seem a very intriguing character. You must be a charmer with the ladies?
A charmer with the ladies (laughs). I m crap with the ladies, I've never actually chatted a girl up in my life. I ve had a lot of long-term relationships. It s usually the girl that approaches me. I m too jittering and un-smooth, I can t deliver the lines slick and articulate I'm just crap at chatting girls up.
Q: So what s your idea of a great night out?
Going to see a gig, I love going out and seeing gigs and watching bands. My girlfriend loves going to the cinema, so we have to compromise a bit. The last band I went to see was when we were let out of Fame Academy for the night we went to see the Doves at Brixton Academy it was awesome
Q: Just before you go, tell us a bit about the video to Keep Me a Secret. When and where did you shoot it?
The video was shot in the old town hall in Bethnal Green, and it was great going back there, because I used to live there before I went into Fame Academy. It was all done out to look like a hotel room, it was quite possibly one of the best days of my life, because I ve never done any acting or anything like that and me cavorting with five women and then trying to get away from them, the very first take, I wasn t expecting it at all, and the director had obviously told them what to do, and all these gorgeous girls hands appeared from nowhere and I was like Oh God nervous and stuff, but by the fourth take it had worn off. It was a lot of fun to make and there was a lot of performing in it and the director was great, playing the song right through each time so I could really get in the mood and perform the song each time.
Thank you very much for to your time today. VidZone users can now look forward to watching your video, Keep Me A Secret. Once again congratulations, and good luck from here on!